A BILL to amend and reenact §48-2-104 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended; and to amend said code by adding thereto two
new sections, designated §48-2-701 and §48-2-702; and to amend
and reenact §59-1-10 of said code, all relating generally to
premarital education; providing a premarital education
incentive to applicants for marriage licenses; providing for
curriculum requirements for premarital education; identifying
instructors for premarital education; increasing the fee for
marriage license without completion of a premarital education
course; and creating a fund for purposes of administering the
premarital education.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

That §48-2-104 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted; that said code be amended by adding
thereto two new sections, designated §48-2-701 and §48-2-702; and
that §59-1-10 of said code be amended and reenacted, all to read as
follows:

CHAPTER 48. DOMESTIC RELATIONS.

ARTICLE 2. MARRIAGE.

PART I. APPLICATION FOR MARRIAGE LICENSE

§48-2-104. Contents of the application for a marriage license.

(a) The application for a marriage license must contain a
statement of the full names of both the female and the male
parties, their social security account numbers, dates of birth,
places of birth and residence addresses. The application must state
whether or not the persons seeking the license have completed
premarital education pursuant to section seven-hundred-one, article
two, chapter forty-eight of this code. If the application states
that the applicants seeking issuance of the license have completed
premarital education, then the applicants must submit a signed and
dated certificate of completion issued by the premarital education
provider.

(b) If either of the parties is a legal alien in the United
States of America and has no social security account number, a
tourist or visitor visa number or number equivalent to a United
States social security account number must be provided.

(c) Every application for a marriage license must contain the
following statement: “Marriage is designed to be a loving and
lifelong union between a woman and a man.

The laws of this state affirm your right to enter into this
marriage and to live within the marriage free from violence and
abuse. Neither of you is the property of the other. Physical
abuse, sexual abuse, battery and assault of a spouse or other
family member, and other provisions of the criminal laws of this
state are applicable to spouses and other family members, and these
violations are punishable by law.”

Part VII. PREMARITAL EDUCATION.

§48-2-701. Premarital education encouraged; requirements.

(a) Persons applying for a marriage license may attend a
premarital education course of at least four hours during the
twelve months immediately preceding the date of the application for
the license.

(b) A premarital education course offers instruction involving
marital issues which may include, but not be limited to, the
following:

(1) A professional counselor or marriage and family therapist
licensed pursuant to article thirty-one, chapter thirty of this
code;

(2) A social worker licensed pursuant to article thirty,
chapter thirty of this code;

(3) A psychiatrist who is licensed as a physician pursuant to
article three, chapter thirty of this code;

(4) A psychologist who is licensed pursuant to article
twenty-one, chapter thirty of this code; or

(5) An active member of the clergy or his or her designee,
including retired clergy, provided that a designee is trained in
skills-based and research-based marriage preparation curricula
premarital education.

(e) The premarital education course curricula must meet the
requirements of this section and provide a skills-based and
research-based curricula of the following:

(1) The National Healthy Marriage Resource Center;

(2) A church, spiritual assembly, or religious organization;
or

(3) Other substantially similar resource.

(f) The Department of Health and Human Resources shall
maintain an Internet website on which individuals and organizations
described in subsection (c) may electronically register with the
department to indicate the skills-based and research-based
curriculum in which the registrant is trained.

(g) The premarital education provider shall furnish each
participant, who completes the premarital education required by
this section, a certificate of completion.

§48-2-702. Marriage education fund.

(a) There is hereby created a special revenue account within
the State Treasury known as the Marriage Education Fund. The
account shall be administered by the Secretary of the Department of
Health and Human Resources.

(b) Any balance in the account at the end of each fiscal year
shall not revert to the general revenue fund but shall remain in
the account and be expended as provided by in this section.

(c) The account shall consist of all fees collected under the
provisions of paragraph (C), subdivision (4), subsection (c), of
section ten, article one, chapter fifty-nine of this code,
legislative appropriations, and all interest or other returned
earned from investment of the fund.

(d) Expenditures from the account shall be made by the
secretary for the purposes set forth in section seven-hundred-one
of this article, and are not authorized from collections, but are
to be made only in accordance with appropriation by the Legislature
and in accordance with the provisions of article three, chapter
twelve of this code and upon the fulfillment of the provisions set
forth in article two, chapter eleven-b of this code: Provided, That
for fiscal year ending June 30, 2013, expenditures are authorized
from collections rather than pursuant to an appropriation by the
Legislature.

CHAPTER 59. FEES, ALLOWANCES AND COSTS; NEWSPAPERS;

LEGAL ADVERTISEMENTS.

ARTICLE 1. FEES AND ALLOWANCES.

§59-1-10. Fees to be charged by clerk of county commission.

For the purpose of this section, the word “page” is defined as
being a paper or electronic writing of not more than legal size, 8
1/2" x 14".

The clerk of the county commission shall charge and collect
the following fees:

(a) When a writing is admitted to record, for receiving proof
of acknowledgment thereof, entering an order in connection
therewith, endorsing clerk’s certificate of recordation thereon and
indexing in a proper index, where the writing is a:the clerk of
the county commission shall charge and collect the following fees:

(2) Forty dollars for a trustee’s report of sale for any
property for which additional information and filing requirements
are required by section eight-a, article one, chapter thirty-eight
of this code. $40:Provided, That $20Twenty dollars of each
recording fee received pursuant to this subdivision shall be
deposited into the county’s General Revenue Fund and $20 of each of
the aforesaid recording fees shall be paid quarterly by the clerk
of the county commission to the West Virginia Housing Development
Fund established in article eighteen, chapter thirty-one of this
code.

(3) Ten dollars for a financing, continuation, termination or
other statement or writing permitted to be filed under chapter
forty-six of this code. $10.

(4) Ten dollars for a plat or map (with no deed of conveyance)
, $10.

(5) No charge for a service discharge record, no charge.

(6) Ten dollars for any document or writing other than those
referenced in subdivisions (1), (2), (3), (4) and (5) of this
subsection, $10.

(7) If any document or writing contains more than five pages,
for each additional page, $1.One dollar for each additional page
for documents or writings containing more than five pages.

For any of the documents admitted to record pursuant to this
subsection, if the clerk of the county commission has the
technology available to receive these documents in electronic form
or other media, the clerk shall set a reasonable fee to record
these writings not to exceed the cost for filing paper documents.

(8) Of the fees collected pursuant to subdivision (1),
subsection (a) of this section, $10 shall be deposited in the
county general fund in accordance with section twenty-eight of this
article and $1 shall be deposited in the county general fund and
dedicated to the operation of the county clerk’s office. Four
dollars of the fees collected pursuant to subdivision (1),
subsection (a) of this section and $5 of the fees collected
pursuant to subdivision (6), subsection (a) of this section shall
be paid by the county clerk into the State Treasury and deposited
in equal amounts for deposit into the Farmland Protection Fund
created in article twelve, chapter eight-a of this code for the
benefit of the West Virginia Agricultural Land Protection Authority
and into the Outdoor Heritage Conservation Fund created in article
two-g, chapter five-b of this code. Provided, That The funds
deposited in the State Treasury pursuant to this subdivision may
only be used for costs, excluding personnel costs, associated with
purpose of land conservation, as defined in subsection (f), section
seven, article two-g, chapter five-b of this code.

(b) Five dollars for administering any oath other than oaths
by officers and employees of the state, political subdivisions of
the state or a public or quasi-public entity of the state or a
political subdivision of the state, taken in his or her official
capacity. $5.

(c) Fifty-five dollars for issuance of marriage license and
other duties pertaining to the marriage license (including
preparation of the application, administrating the oath,
registering and recording the license, mailing acknowledgment of
minister’s return to one of the licensees and notification to a
licensee after sixty days of the nonreceipt of the minister’s
return), $35. This fee is reduced to $35 if the applicants present
a premarital education course completion certificate issued
pursuant to section seven hundred one, article two, chapter
forty-eight of this code, and dated within one year of the
application for a marriage license.

(1) One dollar of the marriage license fee received pursuant
to this subsection shall be paid by the county clerk into the State
Treasury as a state registration fee in the same manner that
license taxes are paid into the Treasury under article twelve,
chapter eleven of this code;

(2) Fifteen dollars of the marriage license fee received
pursuant to this subsection shall be paid by the county clerk into
the State Treasury for the Family Protection Shelter Support Act in
the same manner that license taxes are paid into the Treasury under
article twelve, chapter eleven of this code;

(3) Ten dollars of the marriage license fee received pursuant
to this subsection shall be deposited in the Courthouse Facilities
Improvement Fund created by section six, article twenty-six,
chapter twenty-nine of this code; and

(4) If a premarital education course completion certificate is
not presented, the county clerk shall, on or before the tenth day
of each month, transmit $20 of the marriage license fee received
pursuant to this subsection to the state treasurer for deposit in
the state treasury as follows:

(A) Five dollars to the credit of the Family Protection
Shelter Support Act in the same manner that license taxes are paid
into the Treasury under article twelve, chapter eleven of this
code;

(B) Five dollars to the credit of the Fund for Civil Legal
Services for Low Income Persons created pursuant to section four,
article nine-A, chapter fifteen of this code for the sole purpose
of assisting low income persons with domestic legal matters; and

(C) Ten dollars to the credit of the Marriage Education Fund
created pursuant to section seven-hundred-two, article two, chapter
forty-eight of this code.

(d) (1) One dollar and fifty cents for a copy of any writing
or document, if it is not otherwise provided for, $1.50.

(2) If the copy of the writing or document contains more than
two pages, for each additional page, $1. One dollar for each
additional page if the writing or documents contains more than two
pages.

(3) One dollar for annexing the seal of the commission or
clerk to any paper, $1.

(4) Five dollars for a certified copy of a birth certificate,
death certificate or marriage license, $5.

(e) For copies of any record in electronic form or a medium
other than paper, a reasonable fee set by the clerk of the county
commission not to exceed the costs associated with document search
and duplication.